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Mariners Develop High Tech Pirate Repellents
Hugh Pickens writes "NPR reports that owners of ships that ply the dangerous waters near Somalia are looking at options to repel pirates including slippery foam, lasers, electric fences, water cannons and high-intensity sound — almost anything except guns. One defense is the Force 80 squirt gun with a 3-inch nozzle that can send 1,400 gallons a minute 100 yards in any direction. 'It is a tremendous force of water that will knock over anything in its path and will also flood a pirate's ship very quickly,' says Roger Barrett James of the the Swedish company Unifire. Next is the Mobility Denial System, a slippery nontoxic foam that can be sprayed on just about any surface making it impossible to walk or climb even with the aid of a harness. The idea would be to spray the pirate's vessel as it approached, or to coat ropes, ladders, steps and the hull of the ship that's under attack. The Long Range Acoustic Device, or LRAD, a high-powered directional loudspeaker allows a ship to hail an approaching vessel more than a mile away. 'Knowing that they've lost the element of surprise is half the battle,' says Robert Putnam of American Technology Corp. The LRAD has another feature — a piercing "deterrent tone" that sounds a bit like a smoke detector alarm with enough intensity to cause extreme pain and even permanent hearing loss for anyone directly in the beam that comes from the device. But Capt. John Konrad, who blogs for the Web site Gcaptain.com, says no anti-pirate device is perfect. 'The best case scenario is that you find these vessels early enough that you can get a Navy ship detached to your location and let them handle the situation.'"
Now hold on just a minute, I thought the best pirate repellant was a good, old-fashioned lawsuit. Are you telling me the RIAA LIED to me? I am shocked, SHOCKED I say.
I never spellcheck and I freely admit it. Save your karma for more worthwhile "lol erorrs" replies
Does these guys not accept a parley?!
The musings of just another geek and his junk.
Since when has ignorance ever been an obstacle to macho posturing?
When I first saw the headline, I thought "why would Seattle be so concerned about Pittsburgh? They're not even in the same league!"
It is an odd headline even knowing the right context.
"pirate repellents"
WTF are we talking about... TICKS???
"We're getting boarded... must not have sprayed the pirate repellent last night..."
Well, see, as you're sailing around there's always a probability that you'll have a random encounter. At low levels the pirate encounters can be a good way to gain experience points and loot - but at higher levels they're not worth the hassle, so you'll usually want to just avoid 'em. That's where pirate repellent comes in.
I hear it's made from ninja urine.
Bow-ties are cool.
Doh! Screwed up the link to the 3-inch guns.
Sounds like a very, very short gun.
I suppose the advantage is that the pirates wouldn't be able to see it until it's too late...
Bow-ties are cool.
Reason with them.
Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
That sir, is the point of the National Hammer Association. To defend Hammers from being banned because of the nail-driving exploits of a "tiny minority" who use their rifles inappropriately as striking tools.
Nullius in verba